Kazaana
by Dancho
Summary: My first Inuyasha oneshot basically a slightly AU branch off, dealing with Miroku and Sango's relationship. Yes, this is MS!


The camp was oddly quite. Inuyasha had gone off earlier that morning to check on a youkai sent he had caught and he hadn't returned yet. Kagome and Sango were picking up their bath items and preparing to go in search of a hot spring near-by. I let out an involuntary wince as my cursed hand shifted in my lap, but I quickly killed the pained look that crossed my face. I just needed to keep myself busy and the pain in my hand would fade, right?

Leaning forward, I tightened my grip on my staff, in order to pull myself into a standing position. I let out a soft grunt of pain. My hand had begun to pain me earlier that day and I could feel the twinges growing and growing. Rubbing the prayer beads, I frowned to myself but tried to smile as Shippo jumped on my shoulder.

"Miroku? Are you all right?" He asked. "Kagome says you look as if your Kazaana is bothering you."

"I am…......" I began, before it hit me. My Kazaana. The pain was increasing and I could no longer pretend to ignore it. I had finally run out of time. Glancing around the campsite I noticed that everyone was close to me. Too close. Everyone would die if…...... when I went.

"Get away from me Shippo." I growled, as the panic began to rise in my throat.

"What?"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I roared in terror as I grabbed his by his shirt and flung him across the fire pit towards a shocked Sango and Kagome.

"Miroku!" I heard Kagome call, but I was already running. 

'Run-ning, run-ning run-ning.' My feet chanted every time they hit the ground. Falling over tree roots and hurrying under vines, I rushed away from the camp. I wasn't sure where I was going; I didn't really care. I just had to get as far away as possible.

"Houshi-sama!" I heard Sango call out to me. I didn't look back. I couldn't; I wouldn't. Tumbling over a low branch that blocked the path, I accidentally dropping my staff but I didn't even bother to look back at it or think of returning for it. "Houshi-sama, please! Stop!"

"Go away, Sango!" I begged as I reached the edge of the forest and ran into the field. "Leave me alone!"

"What's wrong, Houshi-sama?" Sango asked as she continued to follow me. Stopping in the middle of the field, I turned to face her. "Houshi-sama?"

"I mean it, Sango! Leave me alone!" I yelled at her, as I lifted my hands so that she wouldn't come any closer. She wasn't close enough to be in any danger but I still had to make her leave. I had to! I didn't want to hurt her…...... and I didn't want her, of all people, to see me die. My death would be horrific to watch, as I knew from seeing my fathers, and I wanted it to be private. I didn't want Sango or anyone else to feel pain. My Kazaana would destroy me, but it would leave no trace. Only a large pit to mark my very existence. That was how it was to be and I wasn't one to fight fate.

"Why, Houshi-sama? Why? What's wrong?" Sango pleaded with me as she clutched my staff to her chest.

"LEAVE!" I screamed as I felt the Kazaana explode. It wasn't painful, per se. In fact it felt almost like when I willingly unleashed my curse. It was just different. I watched in half-horror, half-morbid excitement, as the black hole in my hand quickly expanded and began to eat at my hand. It wasn't as rapid as I thought it would be, but it wasn't slow either. I watched the darkness consume my right hand and eat its way up my arm. It seemed the more it ate, the quicker it moved. The air was flowing around me quickly now, blowing my hair around, in my face and eyes.

The end was coming, I suddenly realized. I looked up, away from my hand, and found myself looking straight at Sango. I had almost forgotten she was here. I wish she had stayed at camp. I would kill myself again if my Kazaana hurt her. I never wanted to hurt her. She was the one of the few I trusted…...... and the only one I loved. I had never told her that, and I guess I never will. I frowned slightly, and prayed once more that Sango was distant enough (physically and emotionally) so that she wouldn't be hurt in any way. I let my eyes stare into her eyes; I wanted my last sight of beauty to be her wonderful brown eyes. But they weren't filled with life this time. They were filled with pain and horror but there was another emotion there that I seemed to remember, but couldn't put my finger one. It was hidden deep in her eyes but it was by far the strongest. And it was directed at me.

"Miroku." She finally managed to shout at me.

"Goodbye." I whispered even though I knew she could not hear me. I closed my eyes and relaxed as the Kazaana finally reached my shoulder and finished the job in a second.

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Opening my eyes, I tried to remember why my back was on fire and why I was resting against a tree.

"What…...... what happened?" I asked myself, as I cast my mind back over the previous events. 'Kagome and I were getting ready to bathe, when Miroku got mad and threw Shippo across the campfire. I told Kagome I'd follow him—she should stay and wait for Inuyasha—and then…......' I stopped. I remembered what had happened.

__

I clutched Miroku's staff even tighter and watched in horror as his Kazaana consumed his hand and began to eat at his arm. He was going to die. My Houshi-sama, my Miroku, was going to die. And he would never know. Never know that I loved him. I finally moved my eyes to his face and our eyes locked. He was scared; I could see it in his eyes. He didn't want to die…...... but there was something else he was afraid of. He wasn't just scared for himself. Who was he worrying about? My eyes jumped to his Kazaana again and gasped. It was moving past his elbow, eating his flesh and leaving nothing but air in its wake.

"Miroku!" I screamed, using his name for the first time. I saw him whisper something and close his eyes. I took a step forward, but stopped. The wing tunnel had reached his shoulder and almost instantly devoured his head and finally the rest of his body.

"MIROKU!" I screamed in panic as the Kazaana fell in on itself and exploded, flinging me against a tree, and sending me into the shadows.

I glanced up into the sky and realized that I must have only been unconscious a few minutes at the most. Stumbling over my own feet, I picked up his staff from where I had dropped it, ran over to the crater the Kazaana had created and rolled down the incline to where I had last see Miroku standing. 

'He WAS standing here.' I told myself, as I dropped the staff onto the ground and knelt. 'I saw him.'

Scratching at the dirt, I tried to find anything to show that what I had seen had just been a trick. A dream. But there was nothing. And I knew that it had been no dream. Miroku was dead, and the Kazaana had left me no memory. Nothing was left to even remind the world that there had ever been a man standing here. I felt a single tear roll down my face and then another and another. There was nothing, except his staff.

"MIROKU!" I sobbed as I lay my face against the ground. I cried and cried until I couldn't anymore, but I couldn't move either. I couldn't…...... and I didn't want to.

"Miroku. I feel as if I owe you a service of some sort but obviously there is nothing here to bury." I whispered, though I knew I was only talking to the grass and dirt. "You would have wanted one anyway, I suppose. You always did insisted on last rites and burials for humans. Remember when we first meet and I was too injured to move but you made sure that my entire village got a proper funeral? I'm not sure what to do actually. We always relied on you for this sort of thing. But you're not here, are you? Oh, Miroku! You're such a bastard! I knew I shouldn't have fallen in love with you. Yes. I loved you, and look what you did. You lied to me! You told me that everything was going to be all right and that everything would work out. But you left me! I should never have trusted you! Everyone I trust, everyone I love, leaves me. Am I cursed as you were? Am I doomed to be alone? Tell me, Miroku! What happened to your special wisdom?! Where is it when I want it?!"

I let out a wild, angry scream and smashed my fist into the ground in anger.

"You really were a bastard, Miroku! I tried to keep you away with my slaps and my names. I never let you close, but you always seemed to find a way in. So what is this, that when you are gone, I let down my defenses. I don't suppose it matters really." I shrugged, before sitting up on my knees. I looked at the ground sadly for a moment before shaking my head quickly.

"I'll be going now, Houshi-sama." I said, a bit colder than before as my defenses were already returning in full force. Standing up, I reached down for Miroku's staff, but stopped. Finally picking it up, I slammed it down into the ground so the rings faced the heavens. Taking out a small knife I had recently bought, I held the staff still and carved in a few characters.

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Miroku

Houshi-sama

"There, Houshi-sama. At least now the world will know you were here." I said with a slight smile. I turned to leave, but stopped and spoke to the staff, though I didn't turn around. "If it makes you feel any better, Houshi-sama, you did teach me something before you went." '_Never trust anyone._'

Climbing out of the deep hole, I looked from the forest to the field and chose my path. I would not return to the camp.

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Japanese terms (as I understand them): 

Houshi-sama = A respectful term for a low-level priest

Kazaana = Miroku's air void

AN: This is my first Inuyasha story, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd review and tell me what you though of it. Thank you!


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